It’s not the kind of openness that would let the public see how things work at the commission, which is responsible for disciplining judges.

But it would at least give the Sunset Advisory Commission, which evaluates the effectiveness of other state agencies, full access to the judicial panel’s records and meetings.

The judicial panel “has decided what types of documents
that Sunset staff can have full access to, inhibiting the Sunset review process,” says a newly released written plea to Abbott. It was signed by state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, a Republican from Angleton who chairs the Sunset panel.

A recent Austin American-Statesman investigation found that the judicial panel repeatedly reprimanded judges for misconduct but allowed them to remain anonymous. Among the misconduct cited: displaying a handgun “for which he did not have a license” when making a traffic stop; telling a lawyer who’d been found in contempt of court that he could avoid jail by donating “large sums of money” to charities, including one connected to the judge.

Sunset staff says in a June report: “While Sunset recognizes the need to protect judges from public disclosure of unfair or unwarranted complaints stemming from individuals unhappy with the outcome of a case or from political opponents, this must be balanced against the public’s right to know that the process is working fairly and effectively when judges misuse or abuse the substantial authority they have been granted.”

1. Parkland’s motion to seal the lawsuit, which named several Parkland executives or UT Southwestern Medical Center doctors who “all received lesser discipline than Akinwande for the same or similar conduct.”